UAE’s women entrepreneurs can take a shot at $50,000 with Visa’s ‘She’s Next’ challenge

Dubai: Women-owned small and medium sized businesses in the UAE can put themselves up for a $50,000 grant and mentoring chances as part of an initiative from Visa and the Abu Dhabi bank FAB. Applications for the ‘She’s Next’ initiative is open until June 23.

This comes amidst numbers that suggest about half of women entrepreneurs surveyed in the UAE finding access to funds being a major hurdle, with 8 in 10’ having to use personal savings to finance operations.

Under She’s Next, one winner will receive $50,000, a tailored training program, and access to a ‘community of entrepreneurs’ under the Visa-promoted program.

How to make the cut

She’s Next is part of Visa’s efforts to support ‘digitalization of women-owned businesses’ and comes with the launch of a ‘Women SMB Digitalization Index’. It scores businesses based on 5 indicators - online presence, digital payments acceptance, payment security awareness, customer engagement, and customer retention.

In the UAE, the index found women-owned businesses scored highest in digital marketing, online presence and customer engagement.

Other major findings from the Index include: